Category Archives: Client work

Work done for our clients

Accessibility – The Next Diversity Frontier

I spent Saturday morning at the first annual Accessibility Camp Toronto. Hosted by the wonderful @Jennison, the event was an “unconference” about web and technical accessibility. Most of the people in the room were techies, but there were also a number of students, teachers and communications professionals. It was great to see such a broad cross-section of participants and to dive into some of the challenges of accessibility. It’s heartening to see these types of events come together, because accessibility will soon move from “nice-to-do” to “must-do”.

Disabled Canadians are the largest minority group in the country, numbering 14% of the population. This number is expected to grow as our population ages, which is something we’ll be looking at during this year’s Roadmap: 2030. Specifically, we will look at the policy and programs needed to address the needs and priorities of an aging population in a session called “The Boom Effect“; and we will look at the community engagement and collaborative policy development that went into the creation of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, and its Customer Service Standard in a session called “Building an Accessible Ontario“.

I’m excited about these sessions because I believe that accessibility is the next big frontier in diversity. Most people I speak with are amazed to discover that disabled Canadians are our largest minority group, because these communities and individuals tend to be an invisible minority. When we think of disability, we often look for specific clues: a wheelchair, a cane, a guidedog… However, the spectrum of ability is wider than that. With an aging population, our disability rates will go up (as Charles Silverman once said “if we live long enough, we’ll all be disabled”) and when accessibility becomes an issue for the Boomers, it will be an issue for us all. That’s a generation that will push to make their experience known, and will not accept limits. Bless them.

Why Immigrant Success Matters

One of the Roadmap: 2030 sessions I’m most looking forward to (I’m looking forward to them all, but I’m really jazzed about this one) is about how political parties campaign to and on issues about diverse communities. I’ve confirmed political strategists from the Conservative and Liberal parties and am looking forward to a great discussion about political engagement tactics and some frank talk about results — what drives votes, and what it means for future campaigns and platforms. Once you’ve courted – or alienated – specific communities, how does expectations and influence change?

When drafting the session description, I referenced this year’s federal election, because it was recent and showed a dramatic focus on diverse communities. Some called it pandering, others called it a power shift; almost everyone called it significant and a game-changer. I wondered if this focus on “ethnic voters” would carry over into the provincial elections, and was waiting to see what would happen.

I didn’t have to wait long. At the very beginning of the Ontario provincial campaign, the incumbent governing party released a policy proposal to offer a $10k tax credit to companies who hire Canadians who immigrated within the past 5 years to their first jobs. An opposition party immediately attacked, claiming that this proposal rewarded “foreign workers”. Here’s a quote:

“Basically Dalton McGuinty wants to pay companies $10,000 to hire foreign workers while we have half a million people in Ontario today who are looking for jobs,” Tim Hudak, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

Accusations flew that the incumbent was pandering to “ethnic voters” and condescending to new Canadians, and that the opposition party was xenophobic and pitting Ontarians against one another.

Here’s my take:

Canada has a major population issue, which is taking the form of sub-replacement birth rate (1.5, when we need 2.1) and an aging population (25% of Canadians will be over 65 years old by 2051). This is a serious issue – we need young workers to make good money fast, to both keep our population rates up, and offset the tax demands of an aging population with health and accessibility needs. Since Canadian women don’t seem keen on popping out 2.1 kids each, the answer is obvious: immigration. Immigration, if managed properly and encouraged, will help us keep our overall population numbers up we grapple with our aging population, and ensure a strong tax base – and (hopefully) family base. The facts are that Canadians aren’t breeding; at the same time, we are aging and will face major expenditures and erosion of tax revenues if we don’t attract skilled, educated and young immigrants to Canada.

So, the challenge is clear. What, you ask, are we doing about it? It’s a mixed bag: we’ve got immigration policy that focused on educated and skilled workers (yay!), but we lack settlement and credential recognition in order to get new Canadians working in their fields, getting established and making money (boo!).  Jeffrey Reitz of University of Toronto is just one person to do research on under-utilization of immigrants (here’s one piece. there are many more. Google him.) and show a wage gap. All the worse if they’re non-white, as the Centre for Policy Alternatives reports here and also here.

This gap in income and suitable work is not sustainable. If we are going to deal with an aging, under-breeding population we must enable immigrants to find suitable work and pathways into the middle classes as quickly as possible. While the Liberal proposal may not be the best policy solution, at least someone’s facing up to the issue. Now that it’s on the table, let’s not obfuscate it with offensive and bizarre rhetoric. The future of the province and country may depend on our ability to support immigrant prosperity.

Youth (dis)engagement

I’ve been following the Twitter conversations about the youth riots in England, and the perceived similarities to the riots in France a few years ago (I say “perceived” because there is a lot of debate, research and analysis still to be done regarding the key issues and root causes of England’s unrest). One of the questions in my mind has been whether or not Canada has to worry about such unrest here. There are many, many views on this topic; some will say that the factors affecting Europe do not apply here, while others cite the under-performance and exclusion we see in visible minority, Aboriginal and disability communities as cause for concern. I will watch this debate unfold with great interest.  In the meantime, I’m posted two articles on this issue and the implications for canada:

Darker the skin, less you fit in

Understanding the Paris Riots

I also recommend picking up Doug Saunders‘ book “Arrival City”. In it, he makes a compelling argument that the root of youth unrest is the lack of pathways to being accepted by the larger society,and seen as a true and full citizen.

Asking Vital Questions of Canadians

As we count down to this year’s Roadmap: 2030 event (October 25 & 26; Appel Salon in the Toronto Reference Library), the team is asking Canadians – especially those interested in diversity, community-building and civic engagement – for their opinions on a range of issues, from our evolving definition of citizenship, to the rights and responsibilities of Canadians (citizens and non-citizens alike) to the role of faith in public policy and much more.

Follow or jump into the conversation on the Roadmap: 2030 Facebook page or Twitter stream.

Defining citizenship

I am not alone in my pondering, questioning and thinking about citizenship and what responsibilities and rights are involved in being an active Canadian citizen. In recent weeks, former MP Glen Pearson has been blogging about how consumerism distracts and detracts from our sense of citizenship and former CTV Quebec Bureau Chief Kai Nagata has released a thoughtful and personal post about the need for active citizenship in our democratic system and the media’s role in assisting us.

It’s great to see that others are thinking very deeply about this issue. Let’s see what we come up with.